CFL Blitz: Predicting most outstanding player nominees

While the playoff participants were decided weeks ago, there’s plenty on the line as the CFL season enters its final stretch.

While the playoff participants were decided weeks ago, there’s plenty on the line as the CFL season enters its final stretch.

Heading into the final weekend of action, only one team knows when and where it will be playing its next game. The Calgary Stampeders have locked up first place in the West Division and will host the West Final on Nov. 19 at McMahon Stadium.

Otherwise, there are many scenarios in play.

The 8-9 Toronto Argonauts can lock up first place in the East and a first-round bye with a win at 7-10 B.C. late Saturday night. If they lose, the 8-9-1 Ottawa Redblacks, who have a bye this week, will finish first, host the East Final and be one win away from playing in the Grey Cup at home.

The 11-6 Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who have suffered a rash of injuries to key players and are slumping badly, can still finish second and host the West semifinal if they can beat the 13-3-1 Stampeders at McMahon on Friday night. They’d also finish second if the 11-6 Edmonton Eskimos lose to the 10-7 Saskatchewan Roughriders in Regina on Saturday night.

If the Eskimos win and the Bombers lose, they’ll finish second, the Bombers will finish third and the Roughriders will finish fourth and cross over to the East to play either Toronto or Ottawa.

If the Riders win, Winnipeg will finish second, Saskatchewan third and Edmonton will cross over to the East.

Got all that?

You certainly can’t say the last week of the season lacks intrigue.

What more could the league and its fans ask for?

FEARLESS PREDICTIONS

The CFL will announce the nominees for league awards on Wednesday at 11 a.m. ET, which means it’s time for us to predict which players will be up for Most Outstanding Player.

There are some tough choices for the Football Reporters of Canada, and while as usual there will surely be some quarterbacks nominated, other positions should be well-represented too.

In fact, it would not be a surprise to see as many as four defensive players get their team nominations.

Here’s who we think will be the nominees from each team:

Montreal Alouettes — It has been a hopeless season for the Als, who enter the final week with a 3-14 record. The only real candidates are defensive lineman John Bowman (8 sacks) and linebacker Kyries Hebert (108 tackles). This is an easy one.

Winner: Kyries Hebert

Ottawa Redblacks — Quarterback Trevor Harris has had a sneaky good season, throwing for 4,679 yards, 30 touchdowns and only 11 interceptions. His No. 1 target had been receiver Greg Ellingson, who has 96 receptions for 1,459 yards and a league-high 12 touchdowns. This one is 50-50.

Winner: Greg Ellingson

Toronto Argonauts — This one is a no-brainer. Quarterback Ricky Ray, 38, has thrown for 5,205 yards — just the fourth time in his 15-year career he’s surpassed the 5,000-yard mark — along with 25 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

Winner: Ricky Ray

Hamilton Tiger-Cats — They started the season 0-8 and changed quarterbacks mid-year. Jeremiah Masoli did a nice job in going 5-4 as the starter at QB (2,859 yards, 14 TD, 5 INT) and receiver/returner Brandon Banks put up 1,961 combined yards and 10 touchdowns. The dark horse here is linebacker Larry Dean, who led the team with 93 tackles and added three sacks and three forced fumbles.

Winner: Larry Dean

Winnipeg Blue Bombers — At one point this season, it looked like quarterback Matt Nichols (4,472 yards, 28 TD, 8 INT) and running back Andrew Harris (967 rush yards, 829 receiving yards) were battling for the overall league MOP award, but injuries and offensive inefficiency have slowed their pace. Both are good candidates, but we’ll go with the team’s unquestioned leader.

Winner: Matt Nichols

Saskatchewan Roughriders — How often do players score offensive and defensive touchdowns in the same year? Not very often. Duron Carter (1,043 receiving yards, 8 TD, one INT, TD) did it this year for the Riders and, despite his controversial personality, is a shoo-in for the MOP nominee in Saskatchewan.

Winner: Duron Carter

Calgary Stampeders — We smell an upset here. Last year’s league MOP Bo Levi Mitchell had another fine season (4,700 yards, 23 TD, 11 INT), but the most impressive season by a member of the Stamps came from non-import middle linebacker Alex Singleton (121 tackles, four sacks, one INT, one forced fumble).

Winner: Alex Singleton

Edmonton Eskimos — Receiver Brandon Zylstra (league-high 1,615 receiving yards) would likely be the nominee on several other teams, however, quarterback Mike Reilly is the unquestioned star of this team and his numbers are too spectacular to ignore (needs 464 this week to hit 6,000 yards, 30 TDs, 13 INT).

Winner: Mike Reilly

B.C. Lions — The Lions missed the playoffs for the first time in 21 seasons but it certainly wasn’t the fault of dynamic middle linebacker Solomon Elimimian (133 tackles). He needs 10 more this week to tie his own league record for tackles in a season. His only competition would come from all-purpose player Chris Rainey, who has an even 3,000 combined yards on the season, best in the CFL.

Winner: Solomon Elimimian

NEWS AND NOTES

Andrew Harris of the Bombers needs just three catches this week against Calgary to set a new league record for receptions in a season by a running back. The current record is 102, held by Craig Ellis of Saskatchewan (1985). Harris has 100 receptions but was banged up last week and could be questionable to play Friday in Calgary … Brandon Banks of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats has recorded five straight 100-plus-yard receiving games. He was named the league’s top performer for the month of October, recording 541 yards on 31 receptions. He also had five touchdowns. He was also named a CFL performer of the week for both Week 18 and Week 19 … Banks’ teammate, Jeremiah Masoli was also named a performer of the month after passing for 1,442 yards and eight touchdowns and only one interception in four games … Edmonton quarterback Mike Reilly was the third performer of the month after he threw for 1,276 yards and eight touchdowns in October.

Diontae Spencer of the Ottawa Redblacks smashed a 17-year-old league record for all-purpose yards in a game with 496 last Friday against the Tiger-Cats. Spencer had 133 receiving yards, 169 punt return yards, 165 kickoff return yards and 29 missed field goal return yards. He broke the record of 474, set by Albert Johnson III of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on July 21, 2000. Only six players in CFL history have ever gone over 400 all-purpose yards in a single game.

PRESSING CONCERN

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a mess right now. After such a promising start to the season — they were 10-3 at the end of September — they have slipped to 11-6 and could miss out on hosting a playoff game if they lose Friday night at Calgary. Late-season injuries have taken a huge toll — the Bombers will play Friday without quarterback Matt Nichols, receiver Darvin Adams, defensive end Jamaal Westerman and linebacker Moe Leggett, four of their biggest stars.

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